What a silly thing to say!

WEB DESK: How ironic it is that although you are on an election trail, you are asking people to distribute sweets if the elected government of Nawaz Sharif is overthrown by the military. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan couldn’t be more implausible – to say the least.

Earlier too, from atop his container, he had expressed hope the ‘umpire would raise his finger soon’. But that finger did not rise, piling up his desperation for power, which seemed to have once again brimmed up at Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, over the weekend. What he said there was undoubtedly a profoundly unguarded expression, to say the least. As if that is his firm opinion and deliberate thought he repeated it next day at the rally at Bagh.

“If it were Nawaz Sharif instead of Erdogan in Turkey the military coup would have been successful,” he told the rally. Enough is enough. If he was not acted against then when he waited for the ‘umpire’s’ finger, which did not rise, he should be taken to task now. Possibly, the PTI chief finds the coup posters recently put on public display by the ‘Move on Pakistan’ an endorsement of his wishful thinking.

In the heat of emotions one may forfeit civility and go berserk. But that does not seem to be the case here. It’s not that the PML (N) would not like to seek his trial under Article 6; other opposition parties in spite of their known dislike for the government are not on the same page with Imran Khan. Harshly criticising the PTI chief, the PPP and ANP have not only thoroughly rejected his comment but also sought his explanation. To the PPP, Imran Khan has ‘exposed his inner wish to rule the country on the shoulders of the armed forces,’ while the ANP believes his comment reflects his frustration over his downfall which started with his defeat in the by-election of PK-8 Peshawar.

Somehow, Imran Khan thinks he is the prime ministerial material and he should be in that office irrespective of the device that should perch him in that slot. And once he considers he was very close to that possibility. During General Pervez Musharraf’s times he almost managed to reach that top slot, but as they say there are many a slip between the cup and the lip.

He can try again but he needs to be a bit circumspect about his utterings in the public. Unlike Turkey, people in Pakistan may not take to the streets to stand before tanks in defence of elected government and some may even distribute sweets if he is removed. But that’s hardly a rationale that should justify a military take-over. What a silly thing to say! Has Imran lost his marbles?